David Thiselton

Marco van Rensburg is pushing to be back by September 1 after breaking a clavicle (collar bone) in a fall at the Vaal on July 14.

He had broken the same clavicle in March.

Both occurrences were the result of horses, Bondiblu and Green Gunston respectively, breaking down. 

The first breakage was accompanied by tremendous pain as the clavicle was shattered and a plate had to be fitted.

After the second fall Van Rensburg initially felt he was alright as there was no pain and the arm still functioned normally.

However, x-rays showed a clean break and the plate had been bent in half.

Van Rensburg’s six week layoff for the first break largely coincided with lockdown so he was able to finish the season in tenth place on the national jockey’s log with 78 winners. It was the first time he had broken into the top ten.

He said of his ambitions for this season, “I am going to be giving it a full go and want to finish in the top ten again and maybe even the top five.”

His optimism stems from the confirmation that top Port Elizabeth trainer Gavin Smith will continue to support him as soon as the travel restrictions for jockeys are lifted.

Last season he had 28 winners in PE from 170 rides but the support from Smith only started in November and then had to end in March due to injury and COVID-19 restrictions.

Van Rensburg effectively will not be losing his regular Monday rides as Cliffie Miller, with whom he has had a partnership for twenty years, has moved from the now defunct Kimberley to Ashburton. Van Rensburg will be hoping to pick up other rides in KZN too when his raids to support Miller are allowed.

Van Rensburg’s chief supporters in Gauteng are Lucky Houdalakis, Stuart Pettigrew, Weiho Marwing and he also picks up rides occasionally from the like of Mike de Kock, Mike Azzie and others. 

He will initially have to rely on that Gauteng support alone as the NHA rules for jockey movement, i.e one move per month, remain in place for the foreseeable future.